Spray hood assembly

ABSTRACT

A spray hood assembly for containing the spray mist of pesticides or other liquid agricultural chemicals in an application area as the pesticide or other liquid is applied to soil or vegetation. In a preferred embodiment, the spray hood assembly includes an elongated hood characterized by a selected number of arcuate hood segments attached to each other in end-to-end relationship and mounted on a trailer hitched to a tractor or other towing vehicle. As the suspended hood migrates over soil or vegetation, the pesticide or other liquid is sprayed into the hood. Air intake openings in the front of the hood segments permit entry of turbulent air which promotes mixing of the air and sprayed mist inside the hood and substantially uniform application of the mist to the soil or vegetation within the confines of the hood. In a preferred embodiment, a mist curtain extends downwardly from the curved front and rear panels of the adjacent hood segments for enhancing confinement of the mist in the hood during application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to spray hoods or shields for confining the mistof sprayed agricultural chemicals such as pesticides in an applicationarea as the pesticide or other liquid is applied to soil or vegetation.More particularly, the invention relates to a spray hood assembly whichis typically mounted on a trailer hitched to a tractor for retardingdrift of spray mist such as that of liquid pesticide or other liquidagricultural chemicals from the application area as the pesticide orchemical is sprayed on soil or vegetation through the migrating sprayhood assembly. In a preferred embodiment, the spray hood assembly ischaracterized by an elongated hood assembled from multiple hood segmentswhich typically have an arcuate cross-section and flanged ends forattaching a selected number of the hood segments to each other inend-to-end relationship. The assembled hood is mounted in a suspendedconfiguration above the ground on a trailer coupled to a tractor orother towing vehicle. As the hood migrates over the soil or vegetationand the pesticide or other liquid chemical is sprayed into the hood, airopenings in the hood segments permit entry into the hood of turbulentair which promotes mixing of the air and sprayed mist. This mixingaction of the inflowing air facilitates uniform distribution of theliquid mist inside the hood and substantially uniform application of themist to the soil or vegetation substantially within the confines of thehood. In a preferred embodiment, a mist curtain extends downwardly fromthe curved front and rear panels of the hood segments for enhancingconfinement of the mist in the hood during application.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Various types of migrating spray shield assemblies are known in the artfor transiently enclosing the spray mist of liquid herbicides or otheragricultural liquids as the liquids are sprayed on vegetation. Typicalof these is the “Spray Hood and Assembly Including the Spray Hood”,described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,335, dated May 28, 1996, to Claussen,et al. The spray hood assembly is adapted for spraying liquids on theground while limiting drifting of the sprayed liquid mist. The assemblyhas a wheeled trailer adapted to be coupled to a towing vehicle whichtransports the trailer along the ground, the rear end of the trailerfitted with a pair of elongated, horizontal, oppositely-extending hoodsupport members. Multiple hoods each having diverging front and rearwalls projecting from opposite sides of a top wall are mounted on eachhood support member. A liquid distribution system including spraynozzles is provided in the hoods for directing liquid spray on theground, whereupon the top and side walls of the respective hoods limitdrifting of the sprayed liquid mist. U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,605, dated Jun.18, 1996, to O'Dougherty, describes a “Spray Shield” adapted to beconnected to a support frame which carries the shield over vegetation.The spray shield assembly includes a polymeric spray shield having a topwall portion suspended from the support frame, and side wall portionsextend downwardly from the top wall portion to form a channel whichextends through the shield. Stiff, polymeric slotted end closure sheetsare attached across the open front and rear ends of the channel toretain the spray therein. Spaced weed knock-down bars extend between theopposite side wall portions adjacent to the open side of the channel,and are adaptable for spacing the side wall portions at variousdistances from each other Des. U.S. Pat. No. 372,298, dated Jul. 30,1996, to Claussen, et al., discloses a “Spray Hood” characterized by aflat top having front and rear panels extending downwardly therefrom inangular relationship.

An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved spray hoodassembly for confining the spray mist of agricultural liquid chemicalssuch as pesticides as the liquid is applied to soil or vegetation, whichspray hood assembly promotes mixing of the sprayed mist with turbulentair to facilitate substantially uniform application of the mist to thesoil or vegetation.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved sprayhood assembly which can be attached to a conventional trailer coupled toa tractor or other towing vehicle.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a spray hoodassembly characterized by an elongated hood mounted on a suitabletrailer coupled to a tractor or other towing vehicle, the front of whichhood is provided with air intake openings through which turbulent aircan enter the hood and mix with pesticide or other agricultural liquidsprayed into the hood to promote uniform distribution of the liquid mistin the hood and facilitate substantially uniform application of the mistto soil or vegetation within the confines of the hood.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a spray hood assemblyfor retarding drifting of liquid pesticide or other agricultural liquidmist from a mist application area as the pesticide or other liquid issprayed on soil or vegetation, which spray hood assembly ischaracterized by a hood of selected length having a selected number ofhood segments joined together in end-to-end relationship, each hoodsegment typically having a substantially arcuate cross-sectionalconfiguration and including curved front and rear panels extendingdownwardly from a hood top; and multiple air intake openings provided inthe front panel of each hood segment, wherein turbulent air enters thehood through the air intake openings and mixes with liquid pesticide orother agricultural chemicals sprayed into the hood to promotesubstantially uniform distribution of the spray mist in the hood andapplication of the mist to the soil or vegetation within the confines ofthe hood as the hood migrates over the soil or vegetation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the invention are provided in a new andimproved spray hood assembly for retarding the drift of liquid pesticidespray mist or the mist of other agricultural liquid chemicals from thepesticide or chemical application area as the pesticide or other liquidis sprayed on soil or vegetation. In a preferred embodiment, the sprayhood assembly is characterized by an elongated hood of selected andvariable length including multiple hood segments each typically having asubstantially arcuate cross-sectional configuration and fitted withflanged ends for typically bolting a selected number of the hoodsegments to each other in end-to-end relationship. The assembled hood ismounted on a suitable trailer coupled to a tractor or other towingvehicle. As the hood migrates over the soil or vegetation by operationof the tractor or other vehicle, the pesticide or other liquid issprayed into the hood. Air openings in the curved front panels of thehood segments permit entry of turbulent air which mixes with the sprayedliquid mist inside the hood to facilitate substantially uniformapplication of the mist to the soil or vegetation beneath the hood. In apreferred embodiment, a mist curtain extends downwardly from each curvedfront and rear panel of the adjacent hood segments for enhancingconfinement of the mist in the hood during application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the spray hoodassembly of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a hood segment component of the sprayhood assembly;

FIG. 3 is an exploded, perspective view of the spray hood assemblyillustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded, perspective view of the hood segment illustratedin FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, taken along section lines 5—5 in FIG. 2, ofthe spray hood assembly, more particularly illustrating application of aliquid pesticide to vegetation in typical operation of the spray hoodassembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring initially to FIGS. 1-4 of the drawings, in a preferredembodiment the spray hood assembly of this invention is generallyillustrated by reference numeral 1. The spray hood assembly 1 ischaracterized by an elongated hood 14 which as hereinafter described istypically assembled from a selected number of hood segments 3, eachtypically having an arcuate cross-sectional configuration. Each hoodsegment 3 is typically molded of a stiff, flexible polymeric materialsuch as polypropylene or polyethylene, in non-exclusive particular, and,as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4, includes a flat hood top 4, has acurved front panel 5 and an oppositely-disposed, curved rear panel 6extending downwardly from opposite edges of the hood top 4. Multiple,spaced-apart stiffening ribs 7 are typically shaped in the front panel 5and rear panel 6 of each hood segment 3. A pair of typically elongated,spaced-apart air intake openings 9 each extends through the front panel5, and an air guide flap 10 typically protrudes forwardly from the frontpanel 5 above the corresponding air intake opening 9, the purpose ofwhich air intake openings 9 and air guide flaps 10 will be hereinafterdescribed. A mist curtain 12, typically characterized by multiple,flexible plastic strips 12 a, extends downwardly from an elongatedcurtain support 11 which is typically mounted by means of bolts 11 a(FIG. 5) on the front panel 5 and rear panel 6, respectively, of eachhood segment 3, adjacent to the bottom edge 5 a thereof as illustratedin FIG. 4.

As further illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4, a segment attachment flange 8,provided with multiple, spaced-apart attachment bolt openings 8 a, istypically provided on each end of each hood segment 3. Accordingly, aselected number of the hood segments 3 can be attached to each other inend-to-end relationship to assemble a hood 14 of desired length, asillustrated in FIG. 3, by mating the segment attachment flanges 8 on theends of adjacent hood segments 3; extending flange bolts (notillustrated) through registering bolt openings 8 a in the respectivesegment attachment flanges 8; and threading nuts (not illustrated) onthe respective flange bolts. A crescent-shaped end plate 13, fitted withmultiple bolt openings 13 a, is typically removably secured on each endof the assembled hood 14, on the exposed segment attachment flange 8 ofeach terminal hood segment 3 by means of mount bolts 13 b and securingnuts 13 c to substantially close the hood interior 14 a (FIG. 1) of theassembled hood 14. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat the hood 14 can be disassembled or shortened in length, as desired,by removing the flange bolts (not illustrated) from the registering boltopenings 8 a of the mating segment attachment flanges 8 and removing theterminal hood segment or segments 3 from the hood 14.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, one end of an elongated hood mount bracket 16is secured to the flat hood top 4 of each hood segment 3, adjacent toeach end thereof typically by means of a pair of bracket mount bolts 17,extended through respective bolt openings 16 a provided in the hoodmount bracket 16 and through registering bolt openings 4 a provided inthe hood top 4 and secured by nuts 17 a. An additional pair of boltopenings 16 a is typically provided in the hood mount bracket 16adjacent to the extending end thereof for receiving an inverted U-bolt18 and mounting the assembled hood 14 on an elongated tool bar 2, asillustrated in FIG. 3 and hereinafter further described.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 3 and to FIG. 5 of the drawings, intypical application of the spray hood assembly 1, a hood 14 of selectedlength is initially assembled typically by bolting a selected number ofthe hood segments 3 to each other in end-to-end relationship at theterminal segment attachment flanges 8, as heretofore described. Theassembled hood 14 is mounted on the tool bar 2 (illustrated in phantomin FIG. 1), provided on a trailer (not illustrated) such as thatdetailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,335, and the trailer is coupled to atractor or other towing vehicle (not illustrated). As described in thatpatent, two of the tool bars 2 typically extend from opposite sides of acentral frame (not illustrated) which is mounted on the rear end of thetrailer. An assembled hood 14 of the spray hood assembly 1 of thisinvention is mounted on each tool bar 2 as hereinafter described, witheach hood 14 suspended above the vegetation 25 and soil 26 asillustrated in FIG. 5. The inverted U-bolts 18 receive the tool bar 2and are extended through the pair of adjacent bolt openings 16 aprovided in each corresponding hood mount bracket 16, as illustrated inFIG. 3, and the threaded parallel legs of the U-bolt 18 each receives asecuring nut (not illustrated). A feed tube 20 (illustrated in phantom),connected to a conventional liquid pump and supply mechanism (notillustrated) typically mounted on the trailer, is typically mounted oneach tool bar 2. Multiple spray tubes 21 extend from the feed tube 20,and, as illustrated in FIG. 5, each spray tube 21 is fitted with a spraynozzle 22 which extends through a tube opening (not illustrated)provided in the hood top 4 of each hood segment 3 and terminates in thehood interior 14 a of the hood 14. It is understood that a variety ofconfigurations are possible for the feed tube 20 and spray tubes 21 onthe hood 14, which feed tube 20 and spray tubes 21 shown in FIGS. 1 and3 serve only as an example of a suitable liquid application system forthe spray hood assembly 1. As the tractor (not illustrated) or othertowing vehicle is operated to slowly draw the suspended hood 14forwardly over the vegetation 25 and soil 26 in the direction indicatedby the arrow 28 in FIG. 5, the conventional pump mechanism (notillustrated) of the pesticide 24 or other agricultural liquid on thetrailer is operated to pump the pesticide 24 or liquid from thetypically trailer-mounted liquid container (not illustrated) through thefeed tube 20, spray tubes 21 and respective spray nozzles 22, where thepesticide 24 is sprayed into the hood interior 14 a. Because of theforward motion of the hood 14 over the vegetation 25 and soil 26, airoutside the hood 14, aided by the air guide flaps 10, is drawn througheach air intake opening 9 in the front panel 5 of each hood segment 3 asindicated by the arrows 9 a in FIG. 5, and the incoming turbulent airthoroughly mixes with the mist of the sprayed pesticide 24 or otherliquid from the spray nozzles 22, inside the hood interior 14 a. Thismixing action of the turbulent air and pesticide mist 24 promotessubstantially uniform distribution of the pesticide mist 24 throughoutthe hood interior 14 a, and the pesticide mist 24 is substantiallyuniformly applied to the vegetation 25 beneath the hood 14. The frontpanel 5, rear panel 6, mist curtains 12 and terminal end plates 13(FIG. 1) of the joined hood segments 3 maintain the sprayed pesticidemist 24 substantially within the confines of the hood interior 14 a, andprevent the pesticide mist 24 from excessively drifting from the hoodinterior 14 a. Accordingly, the pesticide 24 or other agriculturalchemical liquid mist is thoroughly and uniformly applied to thevegetation 25 as the hood 14 passes over the vegetation 25.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the spray hoodassembly of this invention is capable of facilitating uniformdistribution of herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and other liquidagricultural chemicals on vegetation or soil by mixing turbulent airwith the sprayed liquid mist inside the migrating hood. The turbulentair spreads the sprayed mist inside the confines of the hood, therebyproviding a substantially uniform spread of the mist throughout the hoodand distribution of the mist droplets on the vegetation or soil beneaththe hood. It is understood that while the hood component of the sprayhood assembly can be constructed in one piece and in selected lengths,the hood is preferably assembled from multiple hood segments of selectedlength to facilitate constructing a hood having a length which isoptimum for the desired application. It will be further appreciated bythose skilled in the art that while the spray hood assembly can besuitably adapted for mounting on any type of trailer which can becoupled to a tractor or other towing vehicle for transport of the hoodover soil or vegetation, the spray hood assembly of this invention isparticularly adapted for mounting on a trailer of the type disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 5,520,335, as heretofore described and according to theknowledge of those skilled in the art. It is understood that a blowersuch as a “squirrel cage” fan blower which is well-known to thoseskilled in the art can be fitted in each air intake opening of the hoodsegments, as desired, to facilitate blowing turbulent air in the hoodinterior and thorough mixing of the air with the sprayed liquid mist foruniform application of the mist to the soil or vegetation.

While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been describedabove, it will be recognized and understood that various modificationscan be made in the invention and the appended claims are intended tocover all such modifications which may fall within the spirit and scopeof the invention.

Having described my invention with the particularity set forth above,what is claimed is:
 1. A spray hood assembly for attachment to a towingvehicle and containing a mist of an agricultural liquid as the liquid issprayed on vegetation, said spray hood assembly comprising a hood forengaging the vehicle and suspension above the vegetation, wherein theliquid is sprayed in said hood; at least one air intake opening providedin said hood for facilitating entry of air into said hood and promotingsubstantially uniform distribution of the liquid mist inside said hoodand substantially uniform application of the mist to the vegetation assaid hood migrates over the vegetation; and an air guide flap providedon said hood above said at least one air intake opening, respectively,for guiding air into said at least one air intake opening, respectively.2. The spray hood assembly of claim 1 wherein said hood comprises aplurality of hood segments attached to each other in end-to-endrelationship and wherein said air guide flap and said at least one airintake opening are provided on and in each of said plurality of hoodsegments.
 3. The spray hood assembly of claim 2 comprising a segmentattachment flange provided on each end of said plurality of hoodsegments, respectively, for attaching said plurality of hood segments,respectively, in end-to-end relationship to each other.
 4. The sprayhood assembly of claim 3 wherein said at least one air intake openingcomprises a plurality of air intake openings.
 5. The spray hood assemblyof claim 1 wherein said at least one air intake opening comprises aplurality of air intake openings.
 6. The spray hood assembly of claim 5wherein said hood comprises a plurality of hood segments attached toeach other in end-to-end relationship and wherein said air guide flapand at least one of said plurality of air intake openings are providedon and in each of said plurality of hood segments.
 7. A spray hoodassembly for attachment to a towing vehicle and containing a mist of anagricultural liquid as the liquid is sprayed on vegetation, said sprayhood assembly comprising a hood for engaging the vehicle and suspensionabove the vegetation, wherein the liquid is sprayed in said hood, saidhood having a substantially arcuate cross-sectional configuration andincluding a hood top, a curved rear extension extending downwardly fromsaid hood top and a curved front extension extending downwardly fromsaid hood top opposite said rear extension; at least one air intakeopening provided in said front extension for facilitating entry of airinto said hood and promoting substantially uniform distribution of theliquid mist inside said hood and substantially uniform application ofthe mist to the vegetation; and an air guide flap provided on said hoodabove said at least one air intake opening, respectively, for guidingair into said at least one air intake opening, respectively.
 8. Thespray hood assembly of claim 7 wherein said hood comprises a pluralityof hood segments attached to each other in end-to-end relationship andwherein said air guide flap and said at least one air intake opening areprovided on and in each of said plurality of hood segments.
 9. The sprayhood assembly of claim 7 wherein said at least one air intake openingcomprises a plurality of air intake openings.
 10. The spray hoodassembly of claim 9 wherein said hood comprises a plurality of hoodsegments attached to each other in end-to-end relationship and whereinsaid air guide flap and at least one of said plurality of air intakeopenings are provided on and in each of said plurality of hood segments.11. A spray hood assembly for attachment to a towing vehicle andcontaining a mist of an agricultural liquid as the liquid is sprayed onvegetation, said spray hood assembly comprising a hood for engaging thevehicle and suspension above the vegetation and receiving the liquidmist; a plurality of air intake openings provided in said hood forfacilitating entry of air into said hood and promoting substantiallyuniform distribution of the liquid mist inside said hood andsubstantially uniform application of the mist to the vegetation; an airguide flap provided on said hood above each of said plurality of airintake openings, respectively, for guiding air into said plurality ofair intake openings, respectively; and a mist curtain extendingdownwardly from said hood for containing the mist inside said hood. 12.The spray hood assembly of claim 11 wherein said hood comprises aplurality of hood segments attached to each other in end-to-endrelationship to each other and wherein said air guide flap and comprisesat least one of said plurality of air intake openings are provided onand in each of said plurality of hood segments.